Packing-machine.



PACKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 6, 1905.

unrrnn sin rns parnnr OFFICE.

JOHN B. CORNWALL, OF MOLINE, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR- TO BARNARD ANI) LEAS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF MOLINE, ILLINOIS.

'PACKlNG MACHlNE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 22, 1906.

Application filed December 6, 1905. Serial No. 290,652.

To all, whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN B. CORNWALL, of Moline, in the county of Rock Island and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Im rovements in Packing-Machines; and I ereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification.

This invention is an improvement in machines for packing light productssuch as feed, cotton seed hulls, ground hay, &c. and it consists in the novel combinations and constructions of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

The primary object of the invention is to insure thorough compression of the material, which owing to its light and fluffy nature is apt to retain a good deal of air and to puff out forcibly when released from the compression and retaining cylinder; and therefore I have found it desirable to rovid'e means for contracting the materia on all sides as it is pressed downward, to provide the packing case with vents to allow the air in the mate rial to escape from the packing-case, and to provide constrictions in the packing case by which the material is compressed or contracted before it enters the packing-cylinder and before it leaves the cylinder, so that in'its passage through the cylinder and from the cylinder into the container or bags it is alternately contracted and expanded in such manner that it becomes very compact and is less liable to expand laterally and burst the bags, and owing to the increased density of the compressed mass greater quan tities of the material can be packed in a given size package. An additional object is to so construct the packer that the material can be acked in square packages rather than in cylindrical packages, so that the packages can be stored in less space. a

The invention will be fully understood by reference to the accom anying drawings, forming part of this speciication, in which Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a packingmachine embodyingthe invention. Figs. 2 and 3 are transverse sections projected on the lines 2 2 and 3 3, respectively, on Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a bottom plan vlew of the hopper.

The upper part of the packing-case is approximately hopper-shaped and is secured to a depending flange 2 on a casting 2, bolted to the u per timbers 3 of the main frame of the macliine. The lower part of the hopper 1 is contracted and preferably is squared, the sides converging to form a square lower mouth, as shown. Furthermore, just above the lower end of the hcpper the walls are provided with an inwardly-extending projection or bulge 1 which forms a decided constriction of the bore of the hopper near its lower end, and below this constriction the hopper 1 is slightly enlarged, as at 1.

The casting 2 is provided with a bearing 2 for the packing-shaft 4, which extends axially of the hop er and above the same and is provided witli suitable driving means. As shown, a bevel-gear 4 on shaft 4 meshes with a bevel-pinion 4 on a counter-shaft 4 mounted in suitable bearings on the frame work of the machine above the hopper and provided with a belt-pulley 4, by which it can be belted to a suitable driver.

On the lower end of shaft 4 and in the upper part of hopper 1 is secured a packing auger or screw 1 which rotates in a plane at right angles to the axis of the hopper and is adapted to force the material downward therein, the material being fed into the hopper through an opening 2 in plate 2 by any suitable means. The packing-auger, it will be observed in this instance, operates in the upper end of the packing-case instead of at the bottom, as commonly arranged, and it opcrates above the constriction 1 so that after the hopper and packing-case are initially filled the entire mass of material there in will be constantly subjected to the packing action of the screw, and as the packed material moves downward through the hopper and packing-case it is further com ressed on all sides by the constriction 1 in t 1e hoper. p To the lower end of the hopper 1 is secured the upper end of the packing-case 5, which is preferably rectangular in cross-section, as indicated in Fig. 2, and made of metal, perforated on its sides, as at 5 to allow the escape of any air trapped in the material being compressed. This packing-case 5 is of approximately the conformation exteriorly of the sacks or cartons into which the material is to be packed, so that the latter can be slipped onto the packing-case and gradually forced off of the same by the descent of the material ejected from the lower end thereof.

In the lower end of case 5 is an internallyprojecting downwardly-inclined flange 5 which forms a second constriction through which the material must pass just before leaving the case and entering the package, so that the material is given a final lateral compression before it leaves the packing-case, which final lateral compression gives such a set to the compressed material that the final container or bag in which it is packed is not subjected to such severe lateral expansive pressure by the compressed material.

The machine is provided with a movable platform 0, which can be raised and lowered by means of chains and gearing in the usual manner (the particular mechanism for so doing not forming part of the present invention) and may be such as is shown in the patent to Herman A. Barnard, No. 398,999, March 5, 1899.

Operation: The machine being in readiness for operation, the platform 6 is lowered, so that a bag or container may be slipped upwardly over and aroundthe case 5, the platform 6 being raised, so as to support the container. The material entering the hopper is forced down into the packing-case and com pressed therein until the vertical pressure on the mass is sufiicient to forcibly depress the platform 6, the degree of such compression being regulable by the resistance offered by said platform to downward movement. The compressed material continues to be exuded from the packing-case into the container until the desired quantity is fed therein. Then the feed may be shut off and no further material Will be exuded from the packing-case until the feed is started again. While the feed is shut ofi the platform may be lowered with the filled sack or container and the latter removed and an empty container put in place, the platform raised, and the operation repeated. 7 Owing to the constrictions 1 and 5 the material is compressed both vertically and laterally in passing into and through the packing-case, and, furthermore, when the feed is stopped these constrictions sufiice to uphold the body of compressed material in the packing case during the removal of one container and the lacing of another in position for filling. T e filling of containers does not practically begin until the packing-case has been filled with material and compressed to the predetermined degree, and the packing-case virtually remains full until the last container has been filled. In other words, during the effective operations of the machine the packing-case remains full of compressed material.

It will be noted that in this machine the packing-screw does not need to have any vertical movement, but can remain in position at the upper end of the case, thus simplifying the mechanism, also that the column of material in the case is compressed inwardly from the sides by the constrictions as well as vertically or longitudinally by the screw or auger forcing it through the case, also that owing to the form of the case the exuded mass of material is square or rectangular in cross-section, and the container should be correspondingly shaped. This squared form enables the filled containers, holding a given weight of material, to be stored in much less space than cylindrical containers would 00- cupy. The packing-case, however, may be of any desired cross-section to correspond with the desired cross-section of the containers.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a packing-machine, a packing-case, having a constriction in its lower end, and an anger operating in the case.

2. In a machine for packing light materials, the combination of a packing-case; with a packing-auger located in the upper end of the case, and a constriction in the case below the auger, substantially as described.

3. In a packing-machine, the combination of a packing-case having a constriction in its walls, and with a packing-auger operating in the case above the constriction, substantially as described.

4... In a packing-machine, the combination of a packing-case angular in cross-section, and having a constriction below the auger; with a packing-auger operating in the upper end of the case.

5. In a packing-machine, the combination of a packing-case having a plurality of constrictions with a packing-auger operating in the case above the constrictions, substantially as described.

6. In a packing-machine, the combination of a perforated packing-case rectangular in cross-section, and having a constriction in its lower end with a packing-auger operating in the case above the constriction.

7. In a packing-machine, the combination of the packing-case comprising an upper hopper portion, provided With a constriction near its lower end and beneath the lowest portion of the auger, and a tubular body portion suspended from the hopper portion; with a packing-auger, substantially as described.

S. In a packing-machine, the combination of the packing-case comprising an upper hopper portion, and a body portion suspended from the hopper portion and provided with a constriction near its lower end; with a pack ing-auger.

9. In a packing-machine, the combination of a packing-case comprising an upper hopper-shaped portion provided With a constriction near its lower end, and a lower portion suspended from the hopper portion and provided with a constrictionnear its lower end; with a packing-auger, substantially as described.

10. In a packing-machine, the combination of a packing-case comprising an upper hopper-shaped portion provided with aconstriction near its lower end, and a lower portion suspended from the hopper portion, and angular in crossseotion, and provided with an inwardly-projecting flange or constriction near its lower end; with a packing-auger operating in the hopper above the constriction thereof, substantially as described.

11. In a packing-machine, the combination of a packing-auger and a packing-case comprising an upper hopper portion, provided with a constriction near its lower end exof a packing-auger and a packing-case comprising an upper hopper portion, and abody portion suspended from the hopper portion and provided with a constriction near its lower end extending beneath the lower end of the auger with means for operating the au ger, and a movable platform to support the receptacle while being filled, substantially as described.

13. In a packing-machine, the combination of a packing-case comprising an upper hopper-shaped portion provided with a constriction near its lower end, and a lower portion suspended from the hopper portion and provided with a constriction near its lower end with a packing-auger; means for operating the auger, and a movable platform to support the receptacle while being filled, substantially as described. v

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN B. CORNWALL. In presence of- STEPHEN D. RAY, B. G. Mnnme. 

